Comments for qwghlm.co.uk

Comment on Dear Ken by Mat

Mat — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:50:53 +0000

Should buses *really* be measured in “miles”?

I know that - if one keeps a fish tank - you have to calculate “total fish inches per gallon” — as I understand it, this means that one long eel would replace (say) three shorter fish.

But I hadn’t understood that there was a “miles of bus per city” equivalent.

Your metric explains the evolutionary pressure on buses to be longer (or - more accurately - for their longer offspring to survive).

Thank you.

Comment on Dear Ken by Tom

Tom — Sun, 04 May 2008 16:27:12 +0000

I was so sure that some Ken-hating, LOLBoris types would come into the comments of this post and be obnoxious. It restores a bit of my faith in human nature to see that the real controversy has involved being pedantic about an indie band. Good work, everybody.

Comment on Dear Ken by Chris

Chris — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:27:17 +0000

I’m going to be ultra-pedantic - it’s not just that Dave wasn’t a Labour politician when he played with Blur, but he doesn’t feature on every single Blur track - “You’re So Great” has no percussion line.

Comment on Dear Ken by Alex

Alex — Sat, 03 May 2008 16:56:45 +0000

Dunno about Ian Blair but Ken had his reasons for the other two things. Firstly the Muslim guy is an expert in such matters (women and clothing in Islam):
Quoting wikipedia:
“Livingstone became involved in a major dispute with Peter Tatchell, who had previously supported him, when he invited the Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi to a conference on the wearing of the hijab by female students in July 2004. The conference was called following the French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools, which particularly affected Muslim girls. Peter Tatchell, who had stood as an independent Livingstone supporter in the 2000 elections, strongly criticised the invitation because of al-Qaradawi’s support for “female genital mutilation, wife-beating, the execution of homosexuals in Islamic states, the destruction of the Jewish people, the use of suicide bombs against innocent civilians and the blaming of rape victims who do not dress with sufficient modesty”.[73] Livingstone defended the invitation on grounds of Qaradawi’s eminence as “one of the most authoritative Muslim scholars in the world today” who “has done most to combat socially regressive interpretations of Islam on issues like women’s rights and relations with other religions”. He also published a dossier giving a rebuttal to Tatchell.[74];[75]

According to Le Monde diplomatique, Livingstone had requested a report to inform himself on al-Qaradawi before his visit. After reading the study, he concluded “nearly all of the lies distorting al-Qaradawi’s statements came from the MEMRI institute, which pretends to be an institute of objective research. However, we found out that the MEMRI had been founded by a former Mossad officer, who systematically distorts not only al-Qaradawi’s statements, but what many other Muslim scholars say. In most of the cases, disinformation is total, and this is why I published this study.”[76]

Peter Tatchell formed part of a coalition of some London-based community groups which objected to al-Qaradawi, but whom Livingstone refused to meet. The Lesbian and Gay Coalition against Racism issued a statement of support for Livingstone signed, among others, by Ben Summerskill of Stonewall and Linda Bellos, which cited his record of support for gay rights “irrespective of the differing views over his meeting with the Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi”.[77] The row went on for many months, with Livingstone insistent that the mayor of a major diverse city had a duty to maintain close relationships with all faith groups even if he disagreed with some of their views.”

Also he was right not to apologise see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4287171.stm
http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/mayor_letter_220205.jsp

Also, doctorvee, Dave Rowntree wasn’t a Labour politician when the songs were written but nice try lol!

Comment on Dear Ken by doctorvee

doctorvee — Sat, 03 May 2008 11:09:20 +0000

Sorry to be pedantic, but Dave Rowntree is a Labour politician who features on every Blur track.

Comment on Dear Ken by Sahra

Sahra — Sat, 03 May 2008 11:01:04 +0000

Have you heard “Ken” by Kate Bush? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Opl8t-Wahc

Comment on Dear Ken by james

james — Sat, 03 May 2008 09:20:20 +0000

Right on. Im proud of your ken.

Comment on Dear Ken by Tom Reynolds

Tom Reynolds — Sat, 03 May 2008 01:56:06 +0000

Very true, and pretty much what I wanted to say.

Comment on All in the database by Oldelpaso

Oldelpaso — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:21:17 +0000

When I moved into my current flat I got a TV licence reminder. In between legal threats it informed me that “Officers from our Enforcement Division catch 80,698 people every year”, which struck me as remarkably consistent.

Comment on All in the database by Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:09:47 +0000

The thing that really struck me is that it’ll mean nothing to anyone who hasn’t seen the inside of a computer, thus negating the impact somewhat. I imagine there’s going to be a lot of people just wondering why they’ve used such a strange looking urban landscape.

Comment on Twitter’s success, and how to make money off it without being evil by Robbie Clutton

Robbie Clutton — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:50:36 +0000

One of the massive benefits of Twitter is that it’s a pull model as opposed to a push model, the difference between only seeing emails from people you care about and being spammed by everyone. So even though the “x is following you” is annoying, it doesn’t actually affect the way you use the application.

JP writes some really interesting posts on the subject, one such example is here:http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2007/12/27/thinking-about-push-and-pull-and-twitter-in-the-enterprise/

and yes, the Arsenal Scores app is pretty awesome isn’t it… if I do say so myself ;)

Comment on All in the database by Frieda Munro

Frieda Munro — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:23:44 +0000

I got rid of my telly - but ended up having to get a license to get them off my back because in the small print they state that you have to have a one if you own a computer or a mobile phone!!!!!….. That’ll be why EVERYONE in the country is on their sodding database.